WOODLAND, CA – During a review hearing Thursday afternoon in Yolo County Superior Court, two mental health experts opined alleged Davis serial stabber, Carlos Reales Dominguez, to be “legally insane,” according to the Davis Enterprise.
As reported by past Vanguard coverage, Dominguez, a former UC Davis student, is facing two counts of murder for the deaths in late April, 2023, of David Breaux and Karim About Najm and one count of attempted murder of Kimberlee Guillory after he allegedly stabbed her through her tent in early May, 2023.
According to court documents and past Vanguard coverage, Dominguez was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia by mental health experts in the duration of a failed jury competency trial, and was declared competent to stand a full criminal trial in Dec. 2023 after spending several months in a state hospital.
After Dominguez’s preliminary hearing was held in late Feb. 2024, Judge Samuel McAdam “found there to be probable cause to Dominguez being linked to both of the two homicides and one attempted homicide” and ordered a full criminal trial.
As noted by the Davis Enterprise and court documents, prompted by Dominguez’s “dual pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity back in October,” Judge McAdam had ordered evaluations by mental health experts Dr. Sirintip Rhee and Dr. Stephen Weiner.
Concluding their evaluations of Dominguez’s mental state during the April/May 2023 stabbings and the submission of their reports to the court, the Davis Enterprise wrote Judge McAdam’s statement at Thursday’s hearing noted, “Both experts concluded the same, that he (Dominguez) was insane at the time.”
“Several of Dominguez’s friends and former roommates recalled his gradual decline in the months before the stabbings, which began just days after UCD expelled him for poor academic performance,” according to the Davis Enterprise.
Under Dominguez’s insanity plea, an accused “admits to the offenses charged, but contends they suffered at the time from a mental disease or defect that rendered them incapable of understanding that their actions were morally or legally wrong,” and Deputy Public Defender Dan Hutchinson is alleging Dominguez’s schizophrenia was such a mental disease, said the Enterprise.
The conviction with the insanity plea would potentially place the accused within a state psychiatric facility. If the insanity defense fails, Dominguez faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Enterprise wrote.
Dominguez will remain in custody without bail and has a Feb. 20 court date for a review, according to court documents.
